"The Powers of Reaction and Despotism Never Sleep"

"Darrow's brand of agitating, most evident in his famous closing arguments, took the form of placing his clients within the context of the social system prosecuting them. Defending labor leaders accused (often justifiably) of using violence, he reminded jurors that they were fighting against corporations whose brutal tactics and unconscionable working conditions had killed and maimed countless workers.
"Speaking to members of an all-white jury in Detroit trying 11 black men who had allegedly wielded guns against a mob menacing their home, he asked, 'Do you think that all the rights which you claim for yourselves are to be denied them?' Plenty of people thought exactly that in 1925, but by the time Darrow got through with jurors, they had almost always been persuaded to share, at least temporarily, the compassion that fueled his activism."

Wendy Smith in the Los Angeles Times reviews John A. Farrell's Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned.